Work through This
by ifeelprettybutunpretty
Summary: I wrote this a while back for a friend before season 3 came back. Sometimes you are not the only one going through a dark cloud. John Watson and Poppy meet on a park bench.


John sighed heavily as he let his fingers slide away from the shiny black marble that was Sherlock Holmes' head stone. That heard to think about. Sherlock was dead. The man that pretty much without John knowing changed him, for the better, fixed him. John didn't realize how much he needed Sherlock until he was gone. Wow, how ironic and slightly pathetic. John walked through the cemetery, past Mrs. Hudson and the taxi, towards the park. He needed to be out in the open, right now. It was all too much. John pulled his black leather jacket tighter against himself and continued on walking, lost in his thoughts of his, wow, former best friend.

Poppy sat down on the park bench. Today was a horrible day. Frankly the last week hadn't been the best, but today super sucked. And what was worse was that it started out fabulous, but one little thing fell and so did the rest of the day. She sighed as she stared out at the happy people walking around the park. Poppy wasn't broken out of her stare until she felt a presence beside her. Turning her head she saw a -would be handsome if he didn't look so sad- man. He looked how she felt. Tilting her head back to stare up at the sky, Poppy remained silent towards this newcomer.

John didn't notice her until she sighed and laughed like people do when they are too sad to believe anything else. John knew the feeling. He had done it every time he thought of the past few weeks. When his whole world collapsed. John glanced at the girl out of the corner of his eye. She was had brown hair that was pushed back with a simple black headband and she was short, her brown oxford clad feet barely touching the ground. What caught his eye was her dress though. The left side of his mouth quirked up slightly. She was wearing a stacks of books piled and tiled upon her frock, at least that was what the pattern was. There was a black sash tied around her with a bow in the front and she had a green pendant lying upon her chest. From the way John was glancing she looked like she was dreaming that the day would have been a beautiful tale.

Poppy noticed how the man next to her was glancing out of the corner of his eye at her. With everything she didn't even care anymore, turning her body slightly she smiled softly, and sadly at the sandy-haired stranger. For his credit, the stranger looked slightly embarrassed at having been caught and tried to smile back. They both acknowledged the sadness in each other.

"What happened with you?" John asked, surprising both himself and the girl, if her jump gave way to anything.

"Excuse me" Poppy said turning towards the man.

"Its just that-ah- oh sod it. You looked sad, I should know. I'm John" John stammered over his words.

"Oh…I'm Poppy. And Ah.. You aren't wrong. I found out today that somebody I had started growing attached to wasn't whom he said he was. And the thing is, I am mad. I have every right to be. He made me feel secure and then tore the rug out from under me and mad me feel like a right sod. So, I am mad. But I am not angry. If that makes any sense. I just hate not having that connection anymore. Knowing that it was pretty much all a lie. Was he laughing at me the whole time? Why did he do it? What about me invited that kind of action in? I'm sorry. We don't even know each other."

"Maybe that's for best. Get all of our thoughts out without the knowledge that we have to continue to see each other afterwards. "

"Yeah, maybe. I guess I am just going to chalk it up to experience. So, what's your story John?" Poppy watched as John sighed deeply and closed his eyes for a minute before beginning.

"We aren't in that different of a situation. My best friend, the one man that saved me, might have been a fake. Everything may have been a lie, I don't think it is, and I don't want it to be. I can't believe that it is. If I do I will break. He was epic, I was never bored and constantly on my toes and he was infuriating and I wanted to punch him half the time, but I needed that. He saved me, and now he is gone. " John took a big breath to stop himself from dissolving into tears again. He could barely handle this as it is.

"Gone?" Poppy said softly?

"He jumped off a building, right in front of me. I was there. I could have done something, but he told me not to. And I listened. He just had me stand there and bloody watch as he killed himself."

Poppy found herself gasping lightly. Both at John's emotion and the realization of who he was talking about. She watched as John looked over at her and then nodded, like he saw the realization in her.

"I'm sorry John"

"Me too Poppy. I'm sorry for me and I'm sorry for you."

The two sat in silence for a while just breathing and looking into the distance at nothing in particular. They sat until John stood up suddenly.

"Well, this was nice Poppy, but I must be off now"

"It was. Thank You John."

John turned to leave, but turned back.

"Poppy, would you care to have lunch with me tomorrow at The Café Caduta around 12?"

Poppy considered this man for a moment before looking up at him.

"Yeah, I'll meet you there John."

"Great. Well see you."

"Good bye,"

Poppy smiled softly as John turned and began to walk away. She noticed that he had a slight limp in his walk and wondered what that was from. Sighing she bent down to pick up her bag to go home. Suddenly she was very tired. Looking across the park she spotted a tall figure dressed in black in the distance. Poppy looked down at her dress for a moment to smooth it and back up to where the figure was only to find that it had disappeared. Shrugging, Poppy turned and made her way home with small hopes that both John and her could work through this. They had too.


End file.
